Rewriting the conference rulebook for 2026

The decisions, budget, experiments, mistakes and behind-the-scenes of Leanne Hughes' Con Con, plus what I'm changing for 2027

Phew! I’m still on a high from hosting the inaugural Leanne Hughes’ Con Con. In this article, I spill all the behind-the-scenes stuff, decisions I fussed over, and what I learnt along the way.

It’s a long read, so grab a cuppa.

If you’d like to ask questions, please comment in this thread and I’ll respond to you there, so that everyone learns more and grows.

The con(text)

Last August, I had this crazy idea to host a conference.

But I didn’t want to take on risk (i.e. investing money on a venue, spending time and energy thinking about it) so I wanted to validate the idea as soon as possible.

With traditional events, the host usually takes on 100% of the risk. But the host doesn’t claim 100% of the benefit, it’s shared -you’d hope that your guests benefit too, right?.

So, I decided to run an experiment. My marketing efforts cost me $0. I put out a notice online, “I’m hosting this event for consultants, here’s what I think it could look like. If we can sell 15 tickets in the first 24 hours it’s on, if not, then I’m canning the idea, and it won’t happen”.

I then jumped on this LinkedIn Live that evening to share the result..

I revealed on a LinkedIn Live on 28 August 2025, that Con Con was in fact… ON!

The event landing page itself was super basic.

I chose a date, a city (the Gold Coast) and shared a vision of what the event could look like. Note: No keynote speakers were on the drawcard.

The best thing about this approach? It attracted bold people to sign up, people who don’t need all the information, AKA…My type of people!

The event name was even a placeholder and actually a joke, Con Con. But it stuck!

I was shocked that 15 tickets sold out in 20mins, and the event was sold out in 8 days (this is over 290 days before the actual conference date. And at time of writing, it’s 65% sold out for 2027).

Here’s a quick highlights reel on what went down (video below).

Why I wanted to CONvene everyone

I’ve always tossed around the idea of hosting an event because I have the best catch-ups with my peers/friendtors. I’m super lucky that I have a brilliant network of people, and I love a good coffee and a brainstorm.

At some point I thought, why am I doing this one cup at a time? Let’s just get everyone in a room.

Also? I wanted to muck about with what a conference even is. When I work with clients, I’m playing inside their constraints, which is totally fine but I just wanted to try my own thing for once to see what worked.

The other reason is that I’ve got a bit of a bone to pick with traditional conferences. I don’t think the biggest enemy of a conference is time. It’s YouTube. The old format, where you line up speakers and give them 45 to 60 minute slots across eight hours while everyone sits and scribbles notes, feels like a joke to me. If I want to hear my favourite speaker, I can listen to a 90-minute interview with them on YouTube tonight, with my sausage dog by my side (for free!).

So why would I travel, pay money, to sit in a row and listen? When you’ve got a room full of people with real experience and ideas, the best thing you can do is get out of the way and give them a format to talk through/conversational scaffolding.

Here are the assumptions about traditional conferences (on the left) vs what I broke with Con Con on the right (in bold)

• Speakers are the stars vs Every attendee is a contributor

• Presentations vs Conversations

• Host it in a conference room vs Host it anywhere but a conference room

• Networking starts at morning tea Networking started months before arrival

• The organiser takes all the risk vs The market validates the idea first

• Program locked months ahead vs Program emerged close to the event

• Speaker bios vs Every attendee profiled

Originally, I wanted to go full extreme (let’s have a gathering where we move locations!) Had some great chats with Events whiz, Sally Porteous during the brainstorming stage, but realised, I had to reel myself back in to practically make it all work.

My format CONundrum

Look, it’s easy to say you’re going to throw out an old format (i.e. speaker fest), but it’s a whole other thing to put together a new program.

I was a bit nervous about the format re- timing, was there enough space to do stuff, what’s facilitated, what do we cover in breakouts? Funnily enough, the woman who wrote a book two-hour workshops didn’t run a single two-hour session….

It was also tricky to design because when I work with corporate clients, they come with very specific outcomes. When I surveyed the Con Conners beforehand, the answers were lovely but not outcome-driven, ie. “I want to connect.” “I want fresh ideas.” Nobody said “I want to walk out with an extra $20K” - so, how do you design for mindblowing insights, growth and connection while also ensuring the conference gives you an ROI? I feel like you need to cover both objectives, the rational and the experiential.

The big call I made was that there were no speakers and no participants. Everyone was a CONtributor. That might mean speaking, or debating, or hosting a breakout sesh, or asking questions, or side events, or just showing up with great energy.

I built a specific Con Con event website using Manus AI which had every Con Conner listed with their profile, a photo, a bit about them, and a link to their LinkedIn profile. Traditional conferences only profile their speakers but I wanted to highlight every great individual.

Here’s the program for both days, so you can see the mix I landed on (pictured below). I had these printed on A4 cardboard and had one on each table station, like a menu.

I gave some people a speaker slot who I barely even knew, purely based on their enthusiasm. When your group trusts you to do something like this, you can trust in them, too (sorry if that’s corny but it’s the truth). PLUS, pretty much 100% of the room also host, facilitate, speak for a (good) living, so I trusted they’d be excellent. They were.

The two day program

Building CONnection before anyone showed up

Before the event, I hosted three optional Zoom calls including a welcome call and something I called the 2-Min Tip Roulette Party, where everyone had two minutes to share something that was working for them, whether that’s in their business, their facilitation, or their pricing.

Here’s the calendar description for the roulette party:

You’re invited to the 2-MIN TIP ROULETTE PARTY, an exclusive for Con Conners.
The format is simple. You get 2 minutes to share one tip that has improved your business or working life. The tip must align with the goals of Con Con: Better clients, better fees, or better peers (better life, really).
Think:

• a great line you use in a proposal

• an AI or tech tool

• a shortcut, system, or workflow

• a smart question you ask in sales or client conversations

• something small that’s had a big payoff

You’re welcome to share your screen... And there will be a 2min-timer so we can share the space. Plan B: The only catch is that this only works if we’ve got enough people ready to bring something useful. I’m not going to ask you to submit anything beforehand, I’ll facilitate the share-backs live, and encourage you to come along and share one thing.

On the surface, the tip roulette party was about swapping tips.

But it was actually a bit of sleight of hand… It was more about getting people comfortable with each other, and having the confidence to build transparent sharing, setting the right tone before they’d even arrived to the Gold Coast.

Too many conferences wait until 9am on day one for that first awkward hello.

You could see the connection already during the Sundowners on the Weds afternoon prior to our official Thursday kickoff.

The event was officially on from 4pm to 6pm, but at 6.30pm the party was still happening.

#crew

I love a good party but I also take hosting very seriously. I slunk off early to my room to grab some dinner, and not a single person noticed.

I wasn’t offended though, I was proud!

When you’ve built the right community, it stops being about the host.

How the first hour went (a CONfession)

The official start was Thursday morning, and I kicked off at 9:03am. Everyone was on time (the specific 9.03am start really works).

Then somehow, I completely botched my opening activity. My brain just wasn’t connecting to my mouth.

Buuuuut… It got a huge laugh.

A couple of Con Conners started jumping in, saying I’d recovered well, and suddenly I had advocates in the room before we’d even really begun, phew.

(One day, I might share the video footage of that scene with you, just not today…)

The other thing I did in that first hour was openly share my actual pricing on a slide.

It was a screenshot of my first ever proposal (that took 10 days to write), compared to a version a couple years ago, where if you were to break it to an hourly rate, my revenue increase was 511%.

Money can be a touchy subject, I know, and that’s why I wanted to go first.

Oh and Deb Pascoe ran a brilliant opening activity that tested psychologically bravery IMMEDIATELY. It was called “Vent, Brag and Judge”, so so good. The title gives you an indication of what we did during the activity.

CONtrolling the budget

Because ticket sales were made 290 days in advance, I created a separate online savings account and put the cash in there, almost like a trust account. Luma, the event platform I use, gives you event payouts quickly but I wasn’t touching it until after the event was delivered. I set up a separate line item in Xero to track ingoings/outgoings, paired with a Google Sheet.

Ticket sales total was $63K. I set aside a third of that ($21K) immediately for tax, leaving me to play with approx $42K.

The venue was the major expense. Hire included AV, meals etc for two days, bar tab and sundowner snacks, totalling approx $17K. Support crew, accom, merch, gear hire and other expenses totalled $11K leaving me with a profit around $14K.

If I was a business advisor to myself, and with the hours I put into Con Con (vs the work that I deliver with B2B clients), this does not make commercial sense on paper. But from an impact and joy perspective, it makes COMPLETE sense.

My goal with Con Con 2027 is to attract sponsorship to help it make more sense on paper. And I’m delighted we already have an evening drinks sponsor for Con Con 2027, thank you Sarah + Vitality Law Australia!

My favourite CONcoctions

Let’s get into some more detail.

Venue

The venue was MAGNIFICENT. 11/10 to Kirra Beach House. Just stunning location by the beach. I organised brilliant weather (haha). It had a big coastal room and also cabanas overlooking the Pacific ocean.

My only qualm was lunch as it was quite carby (boring sandwiches). The venue being all-in-one helped a lot. Nobody had to shuttle between a hotel and a separate drinks venue, which took the friction right out. The breakout space could’ve been better (proper rooms next time) but overall, with the scenery, the lovely vibes, it was fantastic.

Support

It was a total coup hiring events assistant, Sarah Hutton. She did so much in the background and made it so seamless, giving me the bandwidth to purely focus on hosting.

I also had to have my videographer, Sean Smith in the room documenting the thing! He’s fantastic and turns around videos so quickly, this time he edited together a couple 90 second clips (shared in this email) suitable for both YouTube and verticals for Instagram.

Con Con’s Resident DJ (that’s right)

A wildcard move last year was asking Viren to bring his alter-ego, DJ Tkrar to Con Con and DJ the event. I GAVE MYSELF A HIGH FIVE FOR THIS DECISION.

Gosh, not only is he a brilliant DJ but just an amazing human to have around to bring the energy.

And if you host events, don’t you hate that moment when everyone breaks up to do an activity, and you have to fiddle with your phone and a Bluetooth speaker for a minute? Viren just read the room and played the right instrumental at the right time… and I’ll never get over saying, “Hit it, DJ!’

Btw - my favourite thing he said was, “I don’t do requests.” I loved it so much I worked it into my opening. Isn’t that a nice lesson for our own businesses? Trust your judgement. Trust your expertise.

Be a “No requests” consultant!

Having those awesome tunes also loosened me up, too. I spent a fair bit of the two days dancing up the front and enjoying myself - when the host is relaxed, the room takes the cue, too.

Artwork (and jigsaw puzzle)

I commissioned Jade Miller to draw original artwork to capture the Con Con vibe. Her art was repurposed for signage, slide branding, and even a custom printed jigsaw puzzle (ordered from QPuzzles).

I thought we’d all enjoy milling around and piecing it together. We never finished it, though! Everyone was having too much fun talking to each other.

The official jigsaw puzzle

Merch

Re- conference merch. I didn’t want to do branded pens and USBs, so I made branded A3 notepads, because I’m forever working on A3 paper and I bang on about it constantly.

They were a hit, and doubled as decor for the room. I ordered stubby coolers too (I collect them), with “Chill, you’re at Con Con” on the side, I thought this was a smart line because the stubby coolers cool your drink… not sure if anyone got the pun? These also doubled as pen holders.

I thought about t-shirts and hats, but sizing and preferences are a nightmare, so I kept it simple.

Also - here's an idea you can steal for your next conference/event... The Biz Bookshelf (pictured).

Lots of great reads at Con Con’s biz bookshelf

I got this idea when I was looking at my bookshelf and seeing multiple copies of business books that inspired me - why do I still hold onto them?

And I know many of my peers also love having new reads... so for sustainability, and for a bit of fun/value-add, I asked each Con Conner to bring a book for our book exchange shelf. Leave a book, take a book!

The CONsensus (in their own words)

The thing I most wanted people to walk away with wasn’t a tactic. It was belief in themselves, and the confidence that you CAN create something from nothing, plus, a different way of seeing the world (small asks, really!).

Here’s what some Con Conners shared about the experience (in this video)

…and there was lots more Con Con love on LinkedIn

I couldn’t include all the CONmentary but here’s some snippets.

• “We came, we CONversed, we CONtributed, we CONnected. 50 of Australia’s most ambitious and thoughtful consultants, solo practitioners, facilitators and coaches, with a common driver of creating impact and value for our clients. Who all happen to love playing in the ambiguity, uncertainty and wild space of helping leaders and teams do better together.” - Julia van Graas

• “None of us knew what to expect, or what it was going to deliver, but we all knew through Leanne’s incredible energy, authenticity and track record that whatever it looked like, whatever transpired, whatever was delivered, was something we couldn’t afford to miss. I’ve been to more conferences than I can count, let alone remember, over the years, and by far this was my favourite conference.” - Steve Hodgson

• “I went along to Con Con with some ideas and intentions, but what I experienced was more than I could have hoped. Yes, I came home with a lot of notes and learnings and new contacts, but in a way that shifted something inside. Ideas and phrases that won’t leave me alone, confidence in who I am, the direction I’m heading, and not just contacts, but new and strengthened relationships.” - Jade Miller (also, read her excellent write up here)

• “I met so many cool people over the two days, and heard so many great ideas. Amongst many, here are some of the conversations that inspired me:

  • Steven Demedio’s provocation to ‘take it outside’ and use our environment and nature more creatively when facilitating.

  • Dr Cathryn Lloyd on what an absolute necessity it is to bring more of the creative arts into the development experiences we create.

  • Sharing ambivert discovery stories with Karen Hollenbach.

  • Leanne’s ‘Wildcard’ proposal approach. Absolutely love it, and I can’t wait to see which org is the first to bring me in as a fractional Chief Vibes Officer.

  • As a massive advocate for challenging the status quo on values-led culture, it was awesome to hear Matthew Stewart share so many great examples of how he ripped up the rule book on building culture.” - Viren Thakrar

• “I bought a ticket to the inaugural Con Con, with no idea what would be involved. I only knew I wanted to be in the room with Leanne and the incredible people she would attract. My three core takeaways were:

  1. If you’re not in love with your work, figure out a way to fall back in love with it.

  2. Stand for something and have a point of view.

  3. Identify your true fans, and stay in touch with them.” - Mel Kettle

• “As someone who works in a very traditional, grey and stale industry (yawn), and often experiences the loneliness of business, I found it so refreshing to step into conference filled to the brim with different people, new ways of thinking, possibilities rather than put downs & genuine encouragement.” - Sarah Stoddart (read her full article).

• “It seems like only yesterday I was at my desk at 8am, ready to snag a ticket to the idea that was #ConCon2026. We weren’t jumping at an international speakers list, or the snazzy venue (back then we had no idea where it would be, at all). We were jumping at the chance to be in a room of likeminded, amazing people doing aligned, stellar things, and we trusted it because we trusted Leanne. In a world of rising AI, increasing numbers of solopreneurs, with more ambiguity and disruption than you can poke 1000 sticks at, we bet on connection and humanness.” - Andrea Levinson

• “Con Con is over and I’ve done a 16km walk along the beautiful Gold Coast to reflect and process. What’s standing out to me today is the curation of insightful people and program, and the energy Leanne brought to fostering connection. Many people shared private and insider insights. I really valued the level of disclosure in the room.”- Paul Bowers (Paul also wrote this great article on how he creates an action plan after a conference)

What hosting CONfirmed about me

My level of obsession was about right. I had loads of time to plan this, and while I sorted the important things early (like venue), I deliberately didn’t lock the program until a few weeks out.

There’s real value in planning in the moment/just in time, because you’re picking up on the energy re- what the market’s saying, how you’re feeling, you’re just more responsive to what’s happening RIGHT NOW.

My clients usually want everything locked months ahead. For something like this, the magic was in the emergence. I landed my opening the day before, just by asking myself one question - What’s most important for me to share with this room, right now?

Disrupting my own CONcept for Con Con 2027

I’m not interested in running the same event, tweaking a few things and improving it by 5%.

The great thing about this year’s Leanne Hughes’ Con Con is that nobody had any expectations at all.

Actually, I did ask everyone, “Who could easily tell their friend/spouse/kids what Con Con is all about?”…Not a single person raised their hand. In fact, as the organiser, I couldn’t even explain it myself..! #clarityisoverrated

Next year, these high expectations are the enemy.

People know what Con Con is now, so the job is to show that it’s a format I’m willing to mess with, including my own version of it. YES, of course, I’ll keep elements of what works but I’m also really keen to shake up some things, to keep myself, and my fellow Con Conners on our toes + invigorated.

This year we had a big bell curve, from people who hadn’t started their business yet (and wouldn’t even call themselves consultants) through to black belt consultants who out-earn me.

I’ve increased the room size by 25 people, to 75 next year, so we can build targeted streams and maybe some small deep-dive workshops on specific areas, as well as inject new spirit into the conversations.

So yes… that’s the behind-the-scenes… And I also want to give a shout-out to Steph Clarke and Andrew Hollo who were super helpful in idea-spa’ing about the program.

And of course, couldn’t have done it without the brilliant Con Conners - you’re AMAZING. Thank you for bringing the good stuff!!

There’s so much more I can share and write about, so please ask away in the comments.

Enjoyed the read?

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Btw, thank you for your early book support!

We’ve just cracked 346/1001 pre-orders of my next book, Work Fame, with 97 days to go. Want your name, or your organisation’s featured on the Wall of Work Fame? Grab your copy of the book and submit the form here.

🌴

Leanne “Needs to have music on cue” Hughes

p.s. Want to be part of next year’s experience? Con Con 2027 registrations are open, for a limited time with first round ticket sales closing 17 July. If you read this and love the vibe of Con Con, I’d love to hang out with you!